Four Chennai doctors now have Covid-19, hospital cordoned off – Times of India

CHENNAI: Four doctors practising in Chennai have tested positive for Covid-19, the directorate of public health said on Saturday, adding that they did not have a history of travel and that they could have contracted the disease from one of their patients.
One of them, a 27-year-old woman tested positive after her father, a neurosurgeon, was admitted to an isolation ward in a private hospital in a critical condition. While doctors and staff in the hospital where the neurosurgeon was admitted have been quarantined for testing, the multi-speciality hospital in Old Washermenpet where the 27-year-old tested positive was also cordoned off by Greater Chennai Corporation. Disinfection work was carried out in the hospital and in neighbouring localities. “We have isolated all the patients and staff who had come in contact with the doctor. She visits the hospital thrice a week. She had last visited the hospital on April 2,” said an official of the corporation’s zone 5 (Royapuram).
Of the 182 cases testing positive for Covid-19 in Chennai so far, Royapuram has recorded 46, the highest. The city has the maximum number of cases in the state and unlike in the districts, the cases aren’t in a cluster but have been spread across all zones. The official said that the doctor who resides in Anna Nagar may have contracted the virus from her father who is already positive. “But in epidemiology it may be tough to say who has contracted it from whom unless we do a detail tracking. It is also possible that she contracted the disease and gave it to him. She did not show symptoms for a long time,” a senior doctor said.
Civic body officials have drawn samples from 22 people who had come in contact with the doctor. “We are awaiting the test results,” the official added.
Among the others are a 44-year-old Government Hospital doctor in Perambur, who was admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) on April 9 after he developed symptoms, and a doctor at a clinic at the city airport who is now at a private hospital.

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